The UCSB men’s and women’s track and field teams tuned up before the Big West Championship this upcoming week, and apparently the sprinters can’t wait to get started.

Junior sprinter Jasmine Washington earned the same time in the 400-meter dash at the Claremont Classic track meet as she did at the Nick Carter Invitational in Santa Barbara two weeks ago. Washington clocked in the 400 with a time of 53.65 seconds last Saturday. The NCAA provisional time Washington ran at Claremont was nearly identical – to the hundredth of a second -to the time she ran at the Nick Carter Invite.

Fellow Gaucho sprinter, freshman Emily Griffin, earned solid times in the 100-meters with a time of 12.57 seconds and in the 200-meter with a time of 25.68 seconds. Both marks enabled Griffin to qualify for the Big West Championships at Irvine on May 15-18.

For the men’s squad, senior Andrew Ostarello bolted for a career-best of 53.57 in the 400 meter hurdles at 53.57 seconds. Sophomore sprinter Nohel Corral enjoyed his strongest performance in the 200 at 21.82 seconds, good enough for fifth-best ever at Santa Barbara.

Sophomore shot putter Richie Alpers[[[ recorded a 46 feet, 1 1/4 inches in his event and 150 feet, 1 inch in the hammer throw. Junior middle distance runner Pablo Gallegos captured his 12-person heat in the 800-meters with a career-best time of 1 minute, 56.05 seconds. Gallegos distanced himself from the pack for the last fourth of the race.

Junior distance runner Katie Appenrodt enjoyed leaving the other runners in the dust after the 1500-meter race for the women’s team. Appendrodt clinched the event with a time of 4 minutes, 39.83 seconds while outdistancing the next closest runner, Heather Shurtleff, by 15 seconds. Junior distance runner Tiffany De Jesus also recorded a career-high in the 800 with a time of 2 minutes, 16.44 seconds.